Picker stick connection



sept. 19,1939.

K.v H. BCWEN PICKER STIGK CONNECTION Filed' sept. 18. 1937 k2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 19, 1939. K. H. Bowl-:N 2,173,776

PICKERi STICK QONNECTIOH med sept. 1a, 1957 sheets-sheet 2' Kenne/k, 17.50 welL,

- 9415 www5 Patented Sept. 19, 1939 UNITED STATES PYFKER STICK CONNECTION Kenneth H. Bowen, Auburn, N. Y., assigner to Columbian Rope Company,

Auburn, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application September 18, 1937, Serial No. 164,564

. 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in certain operating elements of loom mechanisms and, particularly, to the operating connection, usually comprising a sweep stick and lug strap, for the picker stick.

As is well understood, the picker stick in va [loom is the member which imparts the throw to {the shuttle in projecting the shuttle back and forth across the loom, The picker stick operates with a rocking motion imparted to it through a connection to'a power-actuatedvelement of the loom-operating mechanism, and the primary object of the invention is to provide an eflicient, but comparatively inexpensive connection for the picker stick.

Another object is to provide a sweep stick and lug strap which are individually and jointly capable of torsioning longitudinally, so that any undue lateral motion of either of the elements attached to the ends of the connection will be absorbed in the connection and not transmitted through the connection to the other of said attached elements.

A further object is to construct the sweep stick and lug strap of material which can be bound in a unitary mass by a binder which might be said to be moisture repellent, whereby the connection will not be detrimentally affected by the humidity of the atmosphere in the mills where the looms are used. n A still further object of the invention is the production of a sweep stick and lug strap at a comparatively low cost.

With these. and other objectsin view, the invention consists in certain details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, al1 as will hereinafter be more fully described and thehnovel features thereof particularly pointed out in the appended claims In the accompanying drawings- Flgure 1 is a perspective view of a sweep stick and lug strap constructed in accordance with the preferred form of the invention, the picker stick being indicated in dot and dash lines;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the sweep stick and lug strap;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken transversely of the sweep stick;

Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views illustrating the torsioning properties of the lsweep stick and strap.

Fig, 6 is a perspective view of a. picker stick illustrating a modied form of the invention; and

Fig. 7 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale,

sweep stick and lugr strap will be reciprocated to 10 rock the picker stick. The movements of this connection are, at times, abrupt and, in addition, the mechanisms attached to the opposite ends of the connection formed by the sweep stick and lug strap oftentimes are displaced later- 15 ally. Consequently, it is important that the sweep 'stick and lug strap be capable of absorbling, without undue wear, the shocks imposed. thereon by such abrupt movement. It is also important that anylateral motion of either of 29 the parts attached to the' ends of the connection be absorbed. For these reasons, the sweep stick and lug strap are composed essentially of vegetable fibres, In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the sweep stick is formed of a plu-v 25 rality'of layers or laminations of fibres cemented or bound togetherwith the fibres of each layer or lamination arranged in parallelism with one another.' If desired, this-laminated body may be encased in a canvas cover i4, and the end of 30 the stick remote from the strap may be protected on its opposite side surfaces by a wear-resistant material l5, usually rawhide.

The stick formed of the several laminations will be resilient and absorb thereto, the resiliency being determined by the densityof the stick, it being understood that the laminated body is compressed to the proper extent to properly withstand wear.v The stick will also readily torsion and, if desired, the torsioning 40 properties of the stick can be regulated, so to speak, or varied, by arranging fibres -of separate layers at an angle to each other. For instance, as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, the fibres of the layers indicated at I 6 extend longitudinally "15 of the stick, while the bres of layers Il are disposed transversely of those of .layers I6, or what would be vertically or transversely of the stick. Usually, the layers I'l are thicker than layers I6 vand constitute the major portion of the stick `50 body, but by varying the relative thicknesses of the two sets of laminations, the torsioning properties of the stick may be altered.

As previously indicated, the humidity of the atmospheric conditions under which the looms 55 The lug strap encircles the picker stick I3,

shocks imparted 35 Preferably, therefore, a latex cement is used for binding the libres of the individual layers, and` the several layers, together.

The lug strap may be formed, if desired, without crossing the fibres. For instance, all the bres may extend in the same direction. A strap of this construction will'torsion to a limited ex-` `be laminated as a large sliver of bres could be bonded and compressed to form the sweep stick or lug strap. However, even if laminated, the structure would be essentially one large sliver.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate the ability of the sweep stick to torsion but, as indicated, such torsioning will not be confined entirely to thestlck. In the construction of Figs. 6 and '7, the elements of the connection are formed of bres promiscuously disposed with respect to' each other with small groups or tufts of bres projected or extending through the mass. The bres are formed into a bat or web andthe small groups or tufts of fibres punched through the bat by barbed needles on what 'is commonly known as a needling machine. Ii the sweep stick or lug strap is to be laminated, the web or bat will be comparatively thin and a number of plies compressed together as shown in Fig. 6, the laminations being indicated at I6a. and the tufts of bres at 20. Instead of forming a laminated structure, a single comparatively thick bat of needled fibres can be compressed to form the sweep stick or l'ug strap. The fibres are, of course, bonded with the usual binder.

operate are such that the sweep stick and lug strap should be more or less water-repellent.

with the degree of torsioning of said sweep stick depending upon the relative thicknesses of the two groups of laminations.

' 2. In apicker stick connection, a longitudinally torsionable sweep stick formed of a plurality of laminations of fibres, the fibres of a number of said laminations being parallel to each other in one direction, and the bres of the remaining llaminations being arranged parallel to each other, but disposed transversely of the fibres of the mst-mentioned group of laminations, the individual laminations o f one of said group being thicker than those of the otherI group with the combined thickness of the laminations of one group exceeding that of the other group and the torsionability of the sweep stick being dependent upon the relative thicknesses of the two groups.

3. In a picker stick connection, a longitudinally torsionable sweep stick formed of a. plurality of laminations of fibres', the iibres of a number oi* said laminations being parallel to each other longitudinally of the sweep stick and the fibres of the remaining laminations being parallel to each other transversely of said stick, the individual laminations of transverse bres being of greater thickness than the laminations o`f longitudinally disposed fibres with the combined thickness of the laminations of one group exceeding that of the other group and the torsionability of the sweep stick being dependent'upon the relative thicknesses of -the two groups.

KENNETH H. BOWEN. 

